CNBC after the December spending bill(s) were negotiated:
Progressives and some Republicans have pushed for larger direct payments and retroactive federal unemployment payments. A $600 weekly supplement that buoyed millions of jobless Americans in the early months of the pandemic expired over the summer, and it took Congress months to agree to reinstate it.
Schumer stressed that Democrats would push for more relief in the new year. Their ability to approve another bill will be shaped by the two Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, which will determine whether the GOP keeps control of the chamber.
In a statement, Biden said the $900 billion plan "provides critical temporary support" but "is just the beginning."
"Immediately, starting in the new year, Congress will need to get to work on support for our COVID-19 plan, for support to struggling families, and investments in jobs and economic recovery," he said. "There will be no time to waste."
Schumer signaled they would again request aid for state and local governments, a provision many Republicans support but McConnell opposes.
The Senate majority leader has called for liability protections for businesses, but lawmakers cast aside both issues as part of the year-end talks. Both will likely come up in the next round of talks that take place after Congress passes the $900 billion package.
[bolding added] Military spending in parallel legislation in December got skirted through without any meaningful debate upon a companion bill mainstream media declined to cover in December.
Biden has Blue Dog Senators in that chamber making things hazy, despite all the "50-50 with Harris having the tie-breaker" hosannas sung by the loyal believers.
Some will vote Dem on organizing, but will dig in resistance where they know no tie breaking vote happens unless there first is a tie. They likely will extort the remainder of the party in the Senate, and with a 50-50 balance it seems committees will also be structured 50-50, rather than either party holding majority committee status, but Dems holding the chairs.
With those realities Biden will have an easy curtain to hide behind if he proposes stuff he might not actually want to see passed. He can rely on a loyal opposition to be blamed rather than taking blame himself over lukewarm proposing with even lesser heat behind pushing. It can keep up appearances which, factually, would be false. It can lessen the heat Biden-Harris experience. Blame game options will prove informative, as things play out. And there will be the impeachment trial circus in town, while deals get cut in backrooms devoid of sunlight; "logrolling" being an apt term used in the past but which, for unknown reasons, has fallen out of fashion - in MSM.